


Desperation

by Are_you_ever_not_going_to_fall_for_that



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Brief little Loki, Brief little Thor, Brotherly Love, Depressed Loki, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluffy Ending, Gen, Mental Instability, Post-Thor: The Dark World, Time Travel, bag of cats Loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-25
Updated: 2014-09-16
Packaged: 2018-02-14 15:12:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2196546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Are_you_ever_not_going_to_fall_for_that/pseuds/Are_you_ever_not_going_to_fall_for_that
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor had been sure that fire and ice couldn't coexist. That their natures would make it impossible to do so. He was wrong. It seemed oddly poetic though, since the being that controlled them was the same mix of fire and ice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Thor.

Thor had been sure that fire and ice couldn't coexist. That their natures would make it impossible to do so. He was wrong. It seemed oddly poetic though, since the being that controlled them was the same mix of fire and ice. Green fire was everywhere, burning anything that was in its way. Thor smelt a mixture of smoke and charred meat. The second part Thor didn't want to think about. The ice came from the casket and it sprung up everywhere as well. The two created a terrible but unique blend of harm down on those who had gotten it its way. The fire would burn through the ice, then the ice would freeze the fire in a sort of macabre dance.

However it wasn't the fire or ice Thor looked at, but the look in his brother's eyes. Eyes that seemed so entrenched in madness, in desperation. The fire and ice surrounded Loki in their grasp but neither hurt him. Which was probably rather the problem. Loki's eyes looked sunken in, which made the madness in eyes look more intense. His clothing wasn't standing up to the flames and ice as well as his skin was though. There were patches missing from the ice and fire, several of them. Leaving blue exposed skin underneath, as his skin under the clothes as well as the rest of him was blue. Probably due to fact he was holding the casket. Loki's mouth was twisted in a silent scream.

Thor knew what Loki wanted. What he had asked for, but Thor wasn't sure even after everything he could grant his brother wish. The only thing saving Thor from being killed was Gungnir, which kept him in a protective shield from the fire and ice being thrown his way. Maybe he couldn't react because he was still in shock. Just hours ago he thought that Loki was dead rather than pretending to be his father. Loki had played it so masterfully well that Thor had not even suspected. But apparently something had broken him even further than what had broken him down when he had gone to Midgard. His anger, his madness, his desperation he had never seen anyone look so...deranged. Madness had cocooned itself around his brother not allowing for his escape. Thor looked at Gungnir again knowing what was required of him to end this. But found him lacking in conviction.

"You promised Thor! You promised if I betrayed you more time you would kill me! I betrayed you! Kill Me!" Loki yelled to be heard over the roar of fire and ice as he advanced on him again. Thor took a step back for every step that Loki took forward, keeping several feet between them. But not enough space that Thor couldn't see the madness burning in his brother's eyes and the pain. His brother wanted Thor to kill him. That was what this was all about. that was the only way his madness could end. He had tried to use Gungnir, but he wasn't knowledgeable about magic and Odin was meant to have trained him in such things.

"Loki it does not have to be this way!" Thor yelled back to his brother. Yes he had said that and at the time he had truly meant it. But no matter if he had thought himself capable of such a feat before, he was struggling with it now. Even after Loki had harmed innocent people.

"I can hear her in my head! Always talking to me!" Loki screamed the pain and madness somehow increased. "She blames me for her death! She tells me of the monster that I am!" Loki said, tears starting to roll down his checks. "They all scream." Loki said and used one hand to suspend the casket for a moment in the air. While he used to the other hand to tug at his hair madly. For a moment he left only the fire to burn everything in its path. "They call me murderer and monster. And they're right aren't they?" Loki asked tears coming to his eyes and Thor wasn't sure what to say. Loki was a murderer and by many people's definition a monster.

"Loki, I cannot do what you want me to do." Thor said instead of responding to the other question. Loki stopped tugging at his hair at that and grabbed the casket again. Combining the two deadly forces again. His brother had somehow become extremely powerful. However he had given Thor Gungnir when Loki had told Thor what it was that he wanted. Death. His little brother wanted death.

"If you don't kill me I will only hurt more innocent people." Loki said his tears drying up and his cold, hard, mad eyes settled on him again. "I already killed Sif, and Fandral. Do you want me to make sure that Hogun, and Volstagg are in the next round?" he asked mockingly and Loki was almost like he was on Midgard again. He knew that it was probably false to make him angry, but it worked. Still bodies part frozen, part burned were frozen his memories. Their faces frozen eternally in his mind in a state of shock. Thor glared at his brother who had taken his friends away from him. Perhaps Thor should have obeyed right away when it would have saved them. His brother was mad, but he was also still dangerous. Thor's foolishness thus far had already cost him two of his friends. Could he let his foolishness, his inability to do what he knew he had to do, cost him his remaining ones?

"Please Loki stop this." Thor pleaded not for the first time, but his brother's previous madness paled in comparison to his madness of the moment. Loki had admitted to hearing voices, Loki wanted to die. Loki in a round about way admitted to having guilt. For the first time in a long time he could see a shadow of his younger brother; albeit an extremely mad and depressed version of his brother. It was why he was struggling a little with doing as Loki asked. He heard more screams in the distance and Thor closed his eyes. He could not allow his brother to hurt another innocent person. No matter if it tore his soul apart to stop it.

"Please Loki." Loki only smiled manically at him. Thor pointed Gungnir at him and a bolt of energy shot out from it hitting Loki square in the chest. The flames immediately died leaving the surroundings charred beyond recognition. Thor threw away Gungnir, hating to have the thing in his hand and made his way over to his brother's side. There was a large hole in Loki's chest and it was leaking black blood. Loki was still grasping onto the casket but no longer were icicles coming out. Loki's blood dripped onto the ground and surrounded him.

Thor looked at his brother and knew that even if he ran his brother all the way to the healers, assuming it was still there, Loki was too gone to survive. He knew his brother didn't have much time left. Part of him hoped that this was another trick like his brother's last death. But he knew that it wasn't. Loki Jotun looks faded back into his own and the blood no longer was black but red. This was the third time Thor had to watch his brother die, but it wasn't any easier than any of the other times. Loki's eyes stared into him, but he didn't speak. His eyes that spoke of an unfathomable pit of sorrow, pain, depression and madness. Thor grabbed his brother hand in his and he weakly felt his brother squeeze it.

"Loki." Thor said pained. He had done this to his brother. He hadn't had a choice he told himself Loki would have killed more innocents. He had killed his brother another part said. There was no excuse for that, not when he should have spent his life protecting him, certainly more than he had. Blood dribbled out of the corner of Loki's mouth and for the first time in who knew how long Loki smiled. It only had a shadow of madness but most of it spoke of relief.

"You'll...be...happier...without me." Loki said taking deep breaths between his words and he looked to be in considerable pain. Thor shook his head unable to believe that. He had never been happier without his brother. He had thought so with Jane, he had filled the hole in his heart with many other people but none of them had been his brother. If only he had appreciated him more as a child. If only he let Loki know more how much he cared for him. Then maybe this wouldn't be happening.

"Loki don't go." Thor pleaded even though he knew it was what his brother wanted and knew that with a wound like that it was inevitable.

"I'm...sorry." Loki said earnestly and Thor felt tears hit his checks. His brother, his only younger brother was dying and there was nothing he could do about it. There were so many mistakes he wished he could apologize for. So many things he wished could have been different.

"I love you." Thor said just as he saw Loki's eyes freeze and the life go out of him. Had Loki heard him? Did he know? Thor felt someone gripped him but Thor ignored it. He had just lost his brother and he refused to look anywhere other than at him. Maybe a part of him still thought that Loki was not dead, since he had been lead to believe that more than once. The tugging became more insistent. Thor heard muffled words like someone was trying to speak to him but the words weren't processing. Couldn't they not see that he was in mourning? Some vague part of his brain registered as another pair of hands started shaking his shoulder vigorously, some vaguely familiar hands. Thor blinked as his attention came into focus and he noted a dull stinging on his check. Someone had slapped him.

Thor blinked in shock as he realized it was Sif. Thor shook his head. Sif was dead. Loki had killed her. He could see her in his memory. Her legs singed as were part her neck and arm while the rest of her had been frozen solid. Thor opened his mouth to say something about that, when he realized that the walls weren't charred anymore. In fact they were still in the weapons vault where Loki as Odin had called him to...Thor's gaze jerked back to Loki where he noticed that Loki's clothes which had seconds ago been burned in several places were now whole.

No. No! Thor got up and looked around the room for any signs of damage. Only to find only a few nicks from where Thor must have thrown Mjolnir. That had been before Loki had made it disappear and not come back to him. Which had been before Loki had given him Gungnir and taken the casket for himself. Saying something about how this was all how it was supposed to originally play out. Thor being the hero and Loki being the villain, and something about it being written in the stars. Thor's heart dropped into his stomach as he realized what this all meant. His brother had lied and manipulated him into killing him.


	2. Chapter 2

Thor could still hear the roar in his ears of the fire and ice, even though it hadn't been real. Some part far removed from the horror he was feeling thought about how his brother's illusions were very realistic looking.

He looked down at his father's body, which was locked in a state so that it wouldn't decay. Thor vaguely remembered one of his soldiers saying that it was impossible to tell how he died. It was either from natural causes or Loki. Either way there wasn't a scratch on him; he looked to be in perfectly good health except for the fact that he was in fact dead.

From the looks of Sif and the rest of the soldiers it was obvious what they thought. Loki had been very angry with their father after being brought back from earth. But would he kill him? He didn't know and he really felt too numb to speculate. He had lost his father and brother in the same day, one of them by his own hand. Loki tricked you, Thor reminded himself. It didn't matter Thor had still killed his brother with the same tool they were trying to make him take up now.

They wanted him to be king. He had finally thought that he had been saved from king; that his father had finally understood, but that had probably been Loki. Now he would be king till the end of his days...alone. His whole family had been taken from him in a matter of two months. He knew he would eventually have to take Gungnir and with it be King, but he did not want to at the moment. Thor couldn't even look at the tool that he had killed his brother with. Loki made you, Thor reminded himself, but it did not make him feel any better about it.

Thor wished for all of this to be a bad dream where he could wake up and everything would be different. His brother would be there healthy, happy and no longer mad. His Mother and Father would be there, and everything would be fine. But that was just wishful thinking, and the reality of the situation was that Thor was alone, and would be alone for the rest of his long years. His brother's dead body flashed before his eyes again with the gaping hole in his chest, the hole that Thor had put there. Thor was just supposed to be checking in with his father and his friends...how had it turned into this? Everything was wrong. How could have things gotten so bad? How could his brother gotten so...mad?

It had always seemed like one moment Loki was his brother, the smart but mischievous man who maybe was slight in stature compared to others, but whose magic was great. Then it was like over night Loki had changed to become a bitter, angry, mad person who had desired to kill him many times.

His mother had said once the first time they had thought Loki to be dead that he had gone insane after first learning of his heritage, then being put as regent before he could calm down. She said that she thought it would help him, but that it hadn't. He knew his mother had felt guilty about that, but he wasn't sure not making him regent would have made Loki feel any better or any less mad. However at least then he wouldn't have been able to access as easily all the weapons that he had used to make war on Jotunheim.

His mother also said that they should have told him sooner, that the fact that had hidden it from him for so long hadn't helped at all. What would it have been like if Loki had known about his heritage from a young age? If he hadn't always felt so alone and isolated like he had known that his brother had felt?

"I remember a shadow, living in the shade of your greatness." he remembered his brother saying on Midgard. Then again he had also said that Thor had thrown him into the abyss, which hadn't been true. He wondered what things would have been like if he had been there for his brother more when they were growing up?

Thor shook his head. It didn't matter, the past was in the past, and there was nothing he could do to change it now. Thor's eyes narrowed at he looked at Gungnir which was in hand of the solider nearest him. Apparently they had stopped trying to give it him and were merely waiting for the next order. Gungnir might have the power to do what he wanted: To give his brother, to give everyone, a second chance. Was this madness? Was he as mad as his brother for even thinking about it? It was against many different rules of almost every realm, because messing with time could have disastrous effects.

However Thor couldn't see the downside. Loki had nearly killed all Jotunheim, Loki had killed many humans. Loki had spent most of his life in misery. If he could undo this, make it better, how could he not? How could he just let Loki die and his father and their mother?

Thor stood up and watched as the entire room looked at him. There were many soldiers there, but he recognized only a few of their faces and knew even less of their names. He knew his hand out for Gungnir which the solider looked grateful to be rid of. Thor held Gungnir in his hand. Was he being the fool like Loki had always accused him of? He should put this madness out of his mind and go back to grieving for his family. Thor shook his head though, maybe he was mad? Maybe that madness was the only thing keeping his mind whole at the moment?

He wasn't even sure how it was that Gungnir worked since he had never before held it. But he knew now with a certainty in his heart that he was going to save his brother. Not just from his death but from his life of wickedness and sorrow. He would save his little brother and he didn't care what happened to the rest of the world. Thor closed his eyes and focused on what he wanted. Loki had told him once that magic depended a lot on feelings and intentions, so Thor focused on his brother, not as the way he was now: Broken, mad and dead, but as he was as a child: Smart, mischievous and protective. He opened his eyes just in time to watch himself disappear in a flash of gold.


	3. Chapter 3

Thor found himself in a familiar hallway. He wondered if he had really done what he had set out to do or if his spell had merely transported him. He felt very drained suddenly and he knew it was probably because time travel required a lot of energy. He didn't know when he was, even if he knew after a moment where he was: He was in the hallway that was close to his and Loki's younger selves quarters. Thor's heart lightened at the thought of seeing Loki alive and not mad, but then frowned as he actually thought of what this would mean. It would mean changing time, which was what he wanted, he reminded himself. But it would change other things as well.

If Loki hadn't been resentful he wouldn't have allowed the frost giants in and then Thor wouldn't have been banished to Midgard. If he hadn't gone to Midgard then he wouldn't have met and fallen in love with Jane. He also wouldn't have met the Avengers if not for his brother's actions. Then again Jotunheim wouldn't have been nearly destroyed and the humans wouldn't have been hurt. There was also the fact that no matter how much he loved Jane, he had only known her for about two months and his brother for over a thousand years. No matter how he loved Jane, it didn't compare to his love for Loki, or his mother and father. No, Thor stepped forward, he was going to do this.

Thor stopped at the first door, his younger selves door. Should he talk to his younger self or just Loki? If he did not tell little Thor, then he doubted Loki would tell him and things would probably only get worse. What if his younger self was disgusted at his brother's true heritage? What if he purposely scorned him and jested? The roar of flames and ice and his brother mad eyes snapped into his mind again. He never wanted to see that again, he had to make sure that it never happened. Thor would just have to make him see.

He put his hand on his own doorknob and felt a slight sizzle. He remembered that Loki had put a spell on his door to prevent anyone but him or Loki from opening it. Thor had asked him to when he had gotten a similar but worse shock by trying to open Loki's door when he wasn't around. In a few months though a maid would try to open his door and their mother would make Loki take off both spells. Apparently he was different enough that the spell acted, but not different enough to hurt him much.

He opened the door and peered around in the darkness. He strode to the nearest light and turned it on. Thor saw his counterpart move and turn over in bed hiding himself from the light under the covers. Loki had often called him lazy; Thor at the moment agreed. Thor was again reminded that he was messing with time and he had no idea how things would happen. Assuming that one could change the future and he succeeded, would he fade away once he had changed the future? Would he just pop out of existence? Or was there another option?

"Thor!" he shouted not knowing how much time he had. Younger Thor bolted up in bed looking at him hazily. Younger Thor's hair was shorter than his by a few inches and his face was much younger and bare. He had an innocence in his face that was heightened by the fear he could tell his younger self felt. A fear that was most likely there because his younger self would have no idea who he was. To him it must seem like there was a strange man was in bedroom at this time of night. Thor held up Gungnir and his younger self relaxed, even though it was not smart of him. Thor could be in disguise or Guingir could be an illusion. He was pretty sure he would not be able to easily satisfy his brother when he went to go speak to him.

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" his younger self asked. Thor sat by his younger self's side who scooted over so he wasn't right next to him. His younger self trusted him apparently enough not to scream for the guards which were stationed not so far away, but not enough to sit right by him.

"Thor do you love your brother?" Thor asked earnestly, because he had to hear himself admit it. If he was too proud to admit it, than none of this was going to work. Then he would have to live in the world where he had killed his brother. Thor felt the grief and guilt drowning him for a moment before he reminded himself that that was why he was there; to stop it from ever happening.

"Why?" his younger self asked him suspiciously.

"Do you love him or not?" Thor found it difficult to keep his voice calm.

"Yes." Younger Thor admitted softly after a few moments. Thor nodded. Good, that was good; that meant this plan had a chance of working. Although it was appearing to be slighter now then when he first come up with it.

"Do you love your brother no matter what?" Thor asked and his younger self was still looking at him suspiciously.

"Who are you?"

"You answer the question and I'll tell you." Thor said.

"Yes I love Loki no matter what." his younger self said slowly and confused.

"Then you must promise to always protect him from harm." Thor said and little Thor frowned.

"Of course I'll protect Loki from harm; he's my brother." he said honestly like there was no other way. When was it that he stopped thinking so and left him to gallivant off with others, often leaving Loki behind? Thor thought with guilt.

"You must never forget about him."

"He's my brother and you said-"

"Loki will need you more than ever and you must let him know that you care." he told his younger self. Even at this age he knew it was going to be hard for Thor to give his brother the comfort that he knew he would need after Thor told him the truth.

"I love him, but I'm not a maiden." his younger self said with disgust.

"There is something important I must tell you." Thor said to his younger self who just looked at him. "Promise me you will tell no others unless Loki wills it." he said because at this age Thor tended to have a bit of a loose mouth and hadn't really known how to keep a secret well.

"Alright." Thor said sounding confused but at the same time slightly intrigued. He had liked to know a good secret, even if he was bad at keeping them.

"Loki is a frost giant." he wasn't sure what reaction he was expecting but it wasn't the one he got.

"No he's not." Thor sighed as he realized that he had had the exact same reaction as an adult when he had been told.

"He is, and he'll need you in the coming days to show him that you care for him, regardless of his heritage. He'll need you to be there for him." The way he hadn't been for his Loki. Loki had been alone, he had had mother and father, but in matters like this he knew that Loki had likely needed him and he had been gone. Not that it had been all Thor's fault since Loki had let the Jotuns in, but hopefully this time around that would not happen. Hopefully now Loki was young enough so that he could deal with the information better. Midgardians said, and he agreed, that children were more resilient.

"You're jesting aren't you?" Thor asked sounding vaguely disgusted. He had hoped Thor would be less against the idea as a child. What if his coming there only made things worse? Made it so that Loki turned to darkens and madness even earlier on in his life?

"No," Thor said shaking his head "but he is still your brother and he still needs you," Thor said. "Be there for him the way that I wasn't." Thor said and little Thor looked up at him after a moment recognition in his eyes.

"You're me?" he asked and Thor nodded.

"I was not there for Loki and I lost him. Do not make the same mistake." Thor said and stood from the bed. He wasn't sure how much longer he had before time corrected itself so he had to hope that their conversation was sufficient.  
"Wait." His younger counterpart said and Thor turned around.

"What happens to Loki?" he asked concerned. Thor thought it was probably better not go into specifics for fear of scaring him or making him fear Loki.

"I lost him." Thor repeated and headed out.


	4. Chapter 4

Thor found himself in the dark hallway again and found himself at Loki's door. he was going to have to use Gungnir to get in since the door spell thing was still active. Thor focused his mind on the door and after a moment it popped open. Thor walked in and used Gungnir to close the door as well. He flicked on the light and looked at his brother's room. It looked lived in, unlike the last time he had been in his brother's room which was during his first supposed death. Loki's items had been coated in dust since no one would touch his things, since he tended to put spells on the items themselves after his mother had taken away the spell on his doorknob. Thor looked at his younger brother in bed. His small form scrunched a bit as if he was annoyed by the light but his body was still trying to sleep. His brother even from a young age hardly ever slept easily.

"Loki." Thor said and Loki's body bolted upright and alert. Loki looked as if he was going to throw a spell at him but then stopped.

"You look familiar." he said warily.

"Yes, that's because I'm your brother." Thor said going for completely honesty knowing his brother responded best to that. Loki eyed Gungnir for a moment then said stiffly.

"So you become king." Thor wasn't sure how to respond to that. Was it still too late? Was his brother forever meant to be the man who tore apart worlds? Would he destined to be the one to destroy him?

"I didn't want to be king." Thor said honestly and definitely not at the price that it had cost.

"Why not?" Loki said his eyes full of curiosity.

"Because being king means you're responsible for everyone in your kingdom." Thor said honestly. At first he had thought of it as a title and that he'd get to do whatever he wanted when he was king, but now he knew better. It was funny that his first act as the king of Asgard was to break the rules of time itself. Then again he was not a stranger to breaking rules for what he thought was a good cause.

"You're breaking the law." Loki mentioned and Thor nodded.

"Why would you do that?" Loki asked warily but at the same time curious.

"I came back in time to tell you something."

"Me. You came back in time because of me?" he said sounding like he was doubtful. Even now this early in life his brother doubted his sincerity his love for him. It stung. It stung quite a bit. Still he had come here for hopefully to change all that: to make everything better.

"There is something you need to know. Something that will undoubtedly be hard for you to hear but I feel deeply in my heart you need to know it." Loki looked more wary than curious now.

"It's bad isn't it." he said his brother had always been perceptive even as a child.

"Well you might think so." Thor said he knew that his brother would think so since the madness hadn't gone into full force until after Loki had learned of it. He liked his brother as he was now eyes much more innocent less suspicious and mistrustful and mad. The flames and ice and Loki's mad eyes filled his eyes again that was why he had to tell his brother to ensure that that never happened. He just hoped that he was right. Again he feared that he would simply be releasing the beast earlier in life and hurting more people over all.

"Thor stop talking around it just tell me." Loki said bluntly.

"I love you Loki no matter what." he said and it was true. His own brother was a murderer but he still loved and missed him. The fact that Loki was a frost giant actually mattered little to him now, it was Loki's actual crimes that had torn them apart.

"So it's really bad." Loki said softly clearly now nervous.

"It doesn't not matter to me at all." he said. Thor knew his brother enough to know that now that the nervousness was only making Loki think of what Thor could possible say so he said it.

"You were born on Jotunheim." Thor said and Loki's face turned into a look of confusion.

"What? I can't of been born on Jotunheim I was born at the end of the great war there was no way that-" he stopped and looked pale and he knew that his brother at least suspected the truth.

"Tell me...tell me I'm not." Loki insisted.

"It does not matter to me." Thor said instead and he saw his brother's face crumple and he put his face into his arms and his little body shook and although he could near hear the cries he knew that his brother was crying. His face abruptly shot up from his lap.

"Why? What happened?" When Thor didn't speak right away Loki screamed "TELL ME!"

"You were abandoned there and left to die. Father took you, he saved you and brought you home to us." Thor said.

"Why? Why would he do that? He had to have been knee deep in Jotunheim blood? Why would he take me?!" Loki yelled. Thor honestly didn't know. He hadn't asked when his father had told him he had been too shocked about the part where his brother was Jotun.

"I'm not sure, but you were a child surely he wouldn't leave a child to die." Thor said.

"I was the enemy!" Loki screamed.

"I'm not sure if you want the answer you will have to ask father." Thor said and Loki nodded crumbling into his lap again. There was one more thing he did know about the situation that he hadn't told Loki and he wondered for a long moment whether or not he should. But he had came back in time for a purpose and he would fulfill his purpose. "There is one more thing." Thor said a little reluctantly and Loki rose again from his knees, his eyes were blood shot. "Your father is Laufey." he said not sure if he should have maybe let Odin handle that part as well, but it was too late he had already said it. Loki face paled considerably which was quite a feat since it had been pale before. Loki this time threw himself into his bed and hid under the covers; like he could hide himself from the truth. Thor tried to pull the cover up to comfort his brother but Loki said.

"Leave me! Go away!" he said even though he was crying. Thor nodded he would respect his brother's wishes, he only hoped his counterpart wouldn't. Thor focused on Gungnir in his hand and willed himself home hoping for a better future.

~.~

Thor stared up at his ceiling. His brother was a frost giant. His brother was a frost giant. The enemy, a monster. How would he ever be able to look at his brother again without looking at him in horror? Perhaps his older self should have kept it to himself. How could he be expected to care for a frost giant? A frost giant of all things when he had sworn that he was going to get rid of all of them?

"Tell me!" he heard his brother yell. Their quarters were quite expansive, so to hear Loki he had to have been talking fairly loud. He could hear the desperation and sadness in his voice. A trace of doubt appeared in his mind. His first inclination was to go help his brother but he stopped himself when he reminded himself that his brother was a frost giant. But that does not make him not your brother another part of his mind said.

"I was the enemy!" he faintly heard after some more muffled shouts. Thor found himself sitting on the edge of his bed. Having not quite made up his mind yet about whether to stay in bed and pretend he had never learned the truth, and going to comfort Loki. Your brother another part of his mind reminded him. It was his brother.

"Leave me! Go away!" Loki's voice shouted faintly. Loki's voice sounded so heartbroken and that was what made Thor's decision for him. He made his way from his bed down the hall and into the room despite the stupid stingy doorknob. He saw his brother as a lump on the bed trying to use his pillow to muffle the sobs that was coming out of him. His brother. Still his brother, nothing and no one could take his brother away from him. Thor made his was quickly to the bed and threw the covers off to see Loki sobbing his form shaking with it. Thor grabbed his brother and pulled him into a hug. Loki of course for some reason tried to fight him off ,but Thor was stronger. Loki was still sobbing but trying to fight him off with all his might.

"You don't understand Thor... I'm a frost giant, a monster." Loki said between sobs. Thor shook his head.

"No, you don't understand Loki. You're my brother and I love you anyways."


	5. Chapter 5

Thor honestly thought that he would flash out of existence when he did the spell intending to bring him back to his own time. But he merely flashed to the same spot as before the hall that lined his and Loki's rooms. Only at the moment it was lit by natural light. Apparently it was day rather than night. So he apparently traveled in time the question was was it forward or backward and by how much?

"Thor what are you doing out here?" Thor heart started pumping wildly in his chest he knew that voice he knew it well. He turned and saw his brother looking at him confused. His brother was alive. He looked down at his brother's hand and saw no magical chains trying to keep his magic in. He looked back up at his brother and saw...sanity. His brother's eyes no longer held the madness that had haunted it before or the sadness. Loki looked at him concerned and Thor found his face splitting into a smile. His brother was alive and was not imprisoned in the dungeons of Asgard. He seemed sane and to be concerned with him and not like Loki wanted to kill him or have Thor kill Loki.

"Are you okay?" Loki asked him and Thor nodded his head vigorously. His brother was alive he hadn't killed him! That was when his knees decided that they wished to stop supporting him and he fell to the ground.

"Thor!" Loki said grabbing his hands breaking his fall a bit. "Okay you are not okay." Loki said his lips pursed together in annoyance and concern.

"Can you walk?" He asked Thor who wasn't sure. A moment ago his legs had felt as strong as an ox and now they felt like there were made of the Midgardian food molasses. Loki rolled his eyes as he put his arm around Thor and helped him to stand up. Then sighed and used his other arm to create a horse with a small cart behind it. Thor frowned and made his way over to it, he felt the horse and cart and they both seemed solid enough unlike most of Loki's tricks which were illusions. Was it possible that this Loki was further along in his magic then his brother had been? Did that mean that if Loki were to turn evil now he would have given him more fire power?

"Thor stop petting the horse and get in." Loki said annoyed. Thor did as his brother said especially since his legs had turned to molasses again. Thor stared up at the ceiling and wonder briefly what was going on with him as he closed his eyes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter of the whole thing and is all flashbacks.

_His hands were around his brother's form, holding Loki tightly as he cried about being a frost giant, hearing Thor's comforting words to him in response._

_"I don't care, you're my brother." which he had spoken over and over again until his brother finally cried himself to sleep._

_He remembered many of these nights; especially the one after Loki admitted to their father that he knew. He hadn't been in the room when it happened, but apparently their father had said that he had taken Loki in order to eventually make peace with Jotunheim. Loki at the time had kept calling himself a stolen relic, something only to be put away until their father had use for him. Thor had comforted him each time; hating to see his brother in pain. It was in these hours that Thor had made a promise to himself to never let anything hurt his brother again._

_He had always done his best to keep his promise, but he hadn't always succeeded, nor would Loki always allow him to interfere. So in the end Thor decided that the best way to protect him was to teach him how to protect himself. However, Loki had chosen a different method of defense compared to many of the other people in their realm._

_Which why there were battling now. Thor wanted to see how effective this new strategy was. A strategy that had more to do with balance, speed, and agility than just physical strength. Thor was obviously a little skeptical that anything could be better than just physical strength, but he hadn't wanted to dismiss Loki's alternative fighting style outright like he might have before. Besides, perhaps it wasn't as ridiculous as it seemed._

_Thor had a sword and Loki had a staff. Loki had trained in this art for several years now; yet he had let his other training slide. Thor just hoped that his brother would not make a fool of himself. He stepped forward to attack but Loki didn't, his eyes ghosting over Thor's body rapidly. His brother was too much of strategist. He was always trying to win fights with strategy. Strategy only worked if your physical strength was at least similar to the person you were fighting, but his brother didn't seem to understand that. Thor was glad he had a training sword, like most training swords the edges were dull so that they wouldn't hurt too much when they struck their opponent. The last thing in the world he wanted to do was hurt his brother seriously._

_Thor moved to strike, only for Loki to duck under it. His brother was fast, but generally he could only seem to use that to his advantage on the defensive. His offensive strikes were usually poorly balanced or too quick or too slow. However, something different happened then, Loki's legs somehow swapped his out from underneath him. Thor fell to the floor unexpectedly and looked up as Loki put his staff to his back. Thor couldn't deny the route that Loki had chosen was very effective._

_~o~_

_They were older now and standing by a small lake out in the forest in the middle of the night. Thor was shivering lightly; envious of his brother's near immunity to the cold. Loki looked down at the lake and then back to Thor nervously._

_"Thor, I don't' think I can do this," he said. Thor shook his head._

_"But Loki, I want to try it," Thor complained. He had wanted to try it ever since Loki had told him that such a thing existed. He wasn't sure why Aesir didn't do it more often since it sounded fun._

_"Thor, I...I" Loki trialed off, but Thor knew his brother well enough to know what the problem was. Loki was afraid. He had never summoned his frost giant powers before and he was afraid of not being able to control them, he was afraid of hurting him. Or maybe he was scared to see the look on Thor's face, because using his powers would involve him looking Jotun which Thor had still never seen. He was afraid that Thor would abandon him once he saw his real form._

_"Loki, no matter what happens I will be right here. Now, I want to ice skate!" Thor demanded._

_Thor hoped that if he phrased his statement demandingly it would cause Loki to be annoyed at such a thing, which would give him less room to be nervous about the whole experience. Loki's eyes flared at the demand and Thor knew it was working. Loki sat down on his knees in the cold dewy grass and put his hands in the water, closing his eyes only for nothing to happen. Thor frowned wondering what the problem was. Apparently he had broadcasted the question on his face, because Loki answered._

_"I don't know," he said, frowning at the lake but at the same time looking relieved._

_"Loki, if you do not wish to this today you do not have to," Thor said, finally backing down. No matter how much he wanted to ice skate, he did not want to risk upsetting his brother. Loki looked up at him like he wasn't sure how to take that. He looked between Thor and the lake a few more times before he put his fingers over the water again and Thor saw ice stream from his palms slowly, flowing out from where Loki's hands were until it reached all edges of the lake. Thor looked at his brother as his skin turned blue and ridges showed up on it. So this was his brother other form, it was interesting._

_Loki looked at him as soon as the ice was completely around the lake, fearful that Thor would abandon him. Thor shook his head in annoyance, hadn't he already proved several times over that he cared not that Loki was a frost giant?_

_Thor instead held up his shoe since Loki said he had to do something to it to make it so that he could actually ice skate. Loki waved a hand over it and there was suddenly a metal blade hanging from his shoe. That would be useful if it came to battle. Perhaps he should get his brother to make shoes with blades in them that he could suddenly eject? But that would be hardly as fun as using his body, so he gave up on the idea. Loki did the same to the bottom of his shoes and Thor was about to go onto the ice when his brother's hand stopped him._

_"It's too rigid. It has to be smooth," Loki said. His brother summoned fire and chased it around the edges of the lake until it gleamed and finally it looked smooth._

_"Can I go now?" Thor asked excited and after a long moment, in which Thor got terribly impatient, Loki nodded._

_~o~_

_They laughed as they skated around the lake. It had become one of their favorite things to do together, and it was something that only the two of them, and he supposed Heimdall, shared. Heimdall had never told on them though. Thor supposed Heimdall only really reported things that were actually dangerous to their kingdom; not so much as when Heimdall just saw them doing things they weren't supposed to._

_Thor had been unstable at first and hadn't liked the rolling motion, but he had gotten used to it over the years and rarely now did he fall down onto the ice. His brother and him had over the years found different ways to skate that were more and more complicated; some of them even involved flips and jumps. Once one learned a trick, the other would work eagerly until they could do the same one. It was usually only when Thor messed up on a trick that he fell now. They were not only fun, but also strengthened their legs and bodies, so it could be quite exhausting if they worked on it for some time. It was especially nice because it just the two of them. So even when Thor went off on adventures with the others, and Loki refused or was too sick to come, they still had this in common._

_~o~_

_Thor dragged his unwilling brother to the Games. It was an event where warriors tried to best each other at each level until there were only two left, and those two battled. The winner of the match was called the King of the Games. Thor's turn wasn't until much later and Loki, although a formidable warrior, had decided not to join this year, since other people often called his style of fighting cheating. Though technically it wasn't considering that Loki used no magic, only his body, but others still liked to call it cheating._

_Loki sat down next his brother and sighed. Thor knew that Loki had no love for these kinds of activities. Normally rather than drag Loki to things he did not want to go to he just met up with Loki late at night and they ice skated, but he was sure Loki would like the games more than he had the last time he had went. Loki looked at him._

_"Brother, I thought we agreed that you would go to this thing and I would read and we would meet later." Loki said sounding every bit as bored as Thor would if he were required to read._

_"Loki, I would not make you come here for no reason, so hush and watch." Thor said._

_The two of them looked down at the pit where the two warriors were fighting. They looked like every bit the normal warriors that they were, until part way through the match one of them did a back flip and attacked from the other side. Thor grinned and looked at his brother who looked astonished. Those were his brother's kind of moves. The ones that normally others called cheating, but the warriors were incorporating his moves into their fighting styles. Not everyone, but enough that Thor had noticed the pattern. Usually it was only one or two moves, but it was obvious where they had come from since no one else before Loki had used moves like that. Loki had said they came from Midgard. Usually everyone thought too mighty of Asgard to incorporate fighting style from somewhere as primitive as Midgard. Or at least they had until Loki had started winning fights with his new fighting style._

_"They're using my moves," Loki said breathlessly and Thor nodded._

_That was the reason why he had forced his brother to come there. He had been supportive of his brother fighting style since he had first seen it in action. Thor imagined he could have just as easily been insulted and called it cheating like many of the others had, but things had changed since that night that he found his brother crying about his heritage. The words of wisdom that his other self had given were always in his mind._

_"If you do not care for him, you will lose him." He had taken his other self's words to heart completely. Although they no longer spent all their time together like they had when they were children due to their different interests, they always had each other's backs in everything they did._

_"That they are brother." Thor said smiling widely at his brother's astonishment._

_~o~_

_Thor had searched everywhere for his brother and in the end found him where he should have looked in the first place: their lake. It wasn't frozen at the moment and Loki was staring at his reflection. He had worked so hard to get Loki to be okay with his frost giant self. Was his work all for nothing now? There was snow on the ground and really it was the snow's fault that they were even in this position to begin with. It had always been his and Loki's secret, but now everyone knew and they had called his brother many names when they had found out._

_"Loki," he said softly and Loki turned to look at him, his eyes red. But not the natural red, this red was from crying. It had been quite some time since Thor had seen his brother cry and he found he didn't like it any more than he used to. It made him feel like a failure of a big brother to see._

_"They think me a monster," Loki said, softly turning his head back to the lake. "Why can't this be who I really am?" he said, his voice full of sadness._

_"Because then we could not skate," Thor said, as he sat next to his brother who didn't give any indication that he had heard him._

_"You always said you didn't care what anyone else thought of you." Thor reminded him and Loki smiled bitterly._

_"I lied, of course I care," he said looking down at the lake. "I'm always lying. I was lying to myself when I thought I could be Aesir. I was lying when I thought that everyone was finally accepting me for who I was."_

_"They are surprised Loki. They will come around and even if they don't, all the people who really matter have. Mother and Father have and I have." Loki nodded, but didn't look up from the lake._

_"Maybe if I had given up my pranks," Loki said, under his breath but Thor still heard him and he laughed boisterously._

_"You could no more give up your pranks that you could your life! You enjoy them too much!" Thor admitted he found they were funny as long as he was not the recipient, but even then, usually with time and a little distance, he had found them funny as well._

_"But you can't deny people would like me more if I were to give them up." Loki said sourly as he looked at the lake. Thor shrugged, maybe so, but most of the time he liked his brother the way he was._

_"People would like you more if you would open up to them and show someone else outside of the family who you really are." Thor responded. His brother tended to hide all of the emotions he felt, when he was upset, scared, or angry, deep inside of himself; only letting it out in front of Thor or their mother._

_"I thought I already did," Loki said dryly._

_"Being Jotun is your race, not who you really are." Thor said irritated. Loki said nothing just stared at the water._

_"Show me." Thor demanded suddenly. Loki raised his eyes up from the lake slowly and looked at him._

_"What?"_

_"Freeze the lake again, but show me." Over the years Loki had mastered it so that he no longer had to be in Jotun form to create ice. Loki looked like that was the last thing in the world he wished to do._

_"Do it brother." he said using his big-brother-knows-best voice._

_Loki cursed under his breath for several moments, some of them quite vulgar. But Loki placed his hand palm out. He no longer had to touch the water either or use fire to clean the surface. Loki took a deep breath and used his frost giant powers to create the ice surface they were used to. This time though he allowed his face to change into his Jotun form. Thor put his hand on Loki's arm who jerked away from him. In Loki's Jotun form, just a single touch could hurt him. He had found that out the hard way. Thankfully it was not terribly bad since Loki had jerked away in terror just like this time around._

_"Thor what do you think you're doing?" he asked terrified, even though Thor was the one who could easily end up dead or injured with a simple touch._

_"I trust you Loki; I have always trusted you," Thor said earnestly, and he saw some of Loki's terror fade and be replaced with anger._

_"You fool! You could have gotten yourself hurt!" Loki yelled as the blueness faded away to be replaced by his normal look._

_"I trust you Loki," Thor stated again emphatically._

_He couldn't speak for the rest of Asgard, but he could speak for himself._

_"I respect you. I… love you." he said._

_It wasn't often he said it, Loki was his brother after all, but he knew that at the moment it was what his brother needed to hear. Loki stared at him in the way that he had when he was trying to figure out if someone was lying to him, but only for a moment before a sad smile split his face._

_"Thanks, Thor. I don't know what would happen to me if I didn't have you." he said and Thor promised to himself that Loki was never going to find out._

_~o~_

_"Are you nervous?" Loki asked him._

_He hadn't been until Loki had spent the last year reminding him of all the duties he would have, how important they were and what were to happen if he were to mess up. He sent his brother a resentful look, which just made Loki smile. He knew Loki enjoyed reminding him of how weighty this job was and it just wasn't all about the glory of it. Thor hid a smile. He had a prank of his own for Loki, technically it wasn't really a prank, but he knew that Loki would be surprised by it._

_"It will be fine, so long as you don't destroy your kingdom." Loki said with a teasing smile. Thor glared at him but Loki seemed unaffected._

_'Let's see how funny he thinks it is when I tell him my surprise later.' He thought to himself._

_That was when the signal came. Loki walked ahead of him and Thor waited a few more minutes until it was his turn. Thor found himself, in what seemed like no time, in front of his father and Loki was at his side. Thor waited nervously as his father gave a speech and then when it was his turn; he said the words that he was required to. His father then declared him king and the entire palace roared._

_'It will be fine as long as you don't destroy your kingdom' raged in his head complete with his brother's teasing voice._

_Thor grinned; Loki would not think his comments so funny now. He had told no one of his plans and he wasn't really sure if it was allowed, but now that he was king there was no one could counter him, not even his brother. Odin paused and Thor knew it was time for his speech. He trained his eyes upon his brother wanting to know his reaction, Loki frowned at he realized that Thor was looking only at him._

_"Thank you for coming to witness my coronation," he said, to his people, feeling a little less nervous since he felt so proud of himself for being able to conceal such a thing from everyone; especially his brother who thought himself able to detect lies from anyone._

_"It is a great joy to see you all here." He said trying to speak as he thought his brother would. He planned to have his brother write all his speeches from now on as well, it would certainly sound more eloquent._

_"As for my first decision as King, I appoint Prince Loki as my royal adviser and being equal to me in both power and status." He said. Loki's jaw dropped as did several other people, but Thor only had eyes for his brother who stared at him uncomprehending. It was one of the few times in his life that he had ever seen his brother speechless. It was marvelous._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. There's only one chapter left.


	7. Chapter 7

"Brother? Are you okay, brother?" he heard hazily and he opened his eyes to see Loki sitting near him doing his best not to look worried. The new memories clashed with his old ones, making his head hurt.

"Loki," Thor croaked out.

"Are you alright?" Loki asked again, trying not to show he was worried, but his newer set of memories knew better. Thor grinned, his brother was alive and whole and they were rulers together. The Loki of this world had never tried to hurt Jotunheim or to rule earth; he had a hard enough time helping him rule Asgard and Thor knew even that wore on him sometimes. A small simple change and his brother's destiny had been rewritten. He was not hated in Asgard, perhaps disliked by some because of his sharp tongue and past pranks, but he was not hated like he had been in the original time line. He and his brother were close and they were friends every bit as they were brothers. He did not have madness in his eyes, only worry.

"Mother is going to kill you for worrying her so." Mother was alive as well.

_"Thor, really, you're king but you can't even manage to notice that your shirt is unclean?" she said with a pointed look at a spot on his shirt._

_"Thor, really, must you be sending your brother to all your meetings? It makes him tired and he speaks poorly to the others of you." his mother voice came to mind._

The Aether, how had forgotten about that? What if his absence put Jane's life in danger? He coaxed his memories out about that time period. The Aether had been found by the dark elves where it was supposed to have been, at least as far as he could remember. Thor had been king at the time and he and Loki agreed to help earth as it was their duty to protect the nine realms.

_Thor stood staring at Malekith who had the Aether in him. His father had told him much about it, enough that he was afraid. If Malekith had his way then the entire universe would be destroyed. He could fight Malekith and had done so for a few minutes, slipping in and out of worlds, he had done his best to distract him but now it was too late. Malekith was using the Aether and if Thor was to try to enter the Aether he would probably not return alive. Thor looked over at his brother who was standing in the shadows. Loki had thrown some powerful spells at Malekith, but Malekith was a powerful dark elf and was more than prepared for his brother's attacks. Thor nodded his approval of their back up plan. Loki nodded as well. Loki had said that the only way to battle a weapon of such power was with a similar object of power. That was why the other Asgardians they had brought had been evacuating any Midgardian civilians to somewhere where they wouldn't be hurt had it come to this. Honestly, Thor had always known that it would come to this._

_Thor watched as the casket appeared in Loki's arms, having been hidden in some sort of magical pocket that his brother previously kept it in. Thor wondered what else he kept in that magical pocket, but banished the thought quickly as there were more important matters at hand._

_Loki's body turned blue the moment his hands came in contact with the casket. Thor didn't flinch; he just stared at his brother making sure that Loki knew that he didn't think him a freak. He knew that even after all this time, even though his brother would never ask for it, he needed Thor's reassurance. Loki nodded again and strode out of the shadows._

_There was no one around due to the other Asgardians. No one was there but him, Loki, and the other dark elves. Loki looked at him and Thor knew that look, but before he could run away or argue, Loki lifted his hand and teleported him away. He could still see what was going on, but he was too far to do anything. He lifted Mjolnir up to fly back, when he found that he didn't have Mjolnir anymore. Thor gritted his teeth, Loki had promised to stop taking his things without his permission, even though he knew why Loki had done so. He didn't want him down there._

_Thor watched as ice sprung up and started covering the entire place. Okay, so maybe his brother had been smart to do so. He probably wouldn't have survived such a blast and Loki might have been distracted by his presence, but that didn't mean that when Loki was done he wasn't going to complain about it. Thor's eyes widened as he watched his brother cover the entire area in ice freezing the dark elves in their place, which happened very quickly, all except for Malekith; which Loki seemed to be saving for last, even though Malekith was the most dangerous._

_There was suddenly music and a man in an iron suit was streaking through the air- it was an interesting sight since Thor had not thought the Midgardians had accomplished enough to have such feats. Thor got distracted from the sight when he felt something settle into his arms, Mjolnir. Thor looked up at Loki wondering why. If Loki had taken it away for a purpose before, why he would be giving it back now? Loki looked pointedly at the man of iron who was still continuing towards him, his gaze stating 'keep-him-away-or-else.'_

_Thor, twirling Mjolnir, shot up into the air after the man of iron. If the man in the iron got in his brother's blast radius he could hurt himself or- wait. The man in the iron suit seemed to be directing his attack both on Malekith and on Loki. Thor would not let that continue, he couldn't, because if he did it would mean the destruction of not just the two, but of so many others. Thor grabbed the man in the air and threw him away. He hoped the man's metal suit would protect him since he didn't want to hurt the metal man. The man flew several feet in the air before the suit righted itself._

_"Loki is taking care of it." Thor said, wondering if the metal man would understand. He had never talked to a Midgardian before. He was unsure of their level of intelligence. Though his brother had said that while they were behind technologically compared them, in a couple hundred years they would probably catch up. It was impressive for a civilization to advance so rapidly._

_"Is this some kind of Transformer thing?" a voice came from the machine. Thor frowned as he didn't understand._

_"Transformer?" he asked puzzled._

_"You know, two aliens races albeit non robots, coming to earth to duke it out rather than using their own damn planet?"_

_"This is not a fight between us and the dark elves." Thor said confused "It's a fight to keep everyone including your race and mine alive."_

_"Oh," the man said "so you're trying to tell me that that blue dude who's freezing everything is doing what exactly?"_

_"Stopping Malekith." Thor said and then looked at his brother, who fighting Aether with ice and it made the area in between them very strange. The Aether kept freezing and unfreezing. Loki seemed to be working his way closer and closer to the Aether._

_"I'm guessing Malekith is the bad guy." He heard the man of iron say. Thor nodded absently, and then he heard a strange loud sound coming towards them. Thor turned to look at it; it was some sort of primitive flying machine coming towards Loki and Malekith. Thor would hate to hurt the people in it, but Loki couldn't afford any distractions now that it could get him and then the rest of them killed. Still, he didn't know how to stop it. He turned to man of iron._

_"Can you stop them?" he asked, as he looked at his brother who had made it a few steps closer but needed a little more time._

_"Buddy, I'm still not sure if I shouldn't be stopping you."_

_"If you allow them to interfere everyone will die." Thor said angrily, and then breathed deeply. His brother had taught him how to calm himself and communicate rationally when it was needed, even if he still preferred to settle things with his hands. His hands would not be very effective in this situation and would certainly not convince the Midgardians that they were on the same side._

_"Please." He pleaded even though that was a word he hardly ever used. Thor gave the man what his brother called 'his puppy dog face' which he used to get what he wanted sometimes. Loki didn't know that he knew Loki had trouble resisting it, even after all this time._

_"Don't make me regret this." The man said after a long moment. He then flew off in the direction of the jet which was only a few miles away at that point. Thor's attention went back to his brother who was now only five feet away from Malekith. Thor worry levels rose back up as he wondered what Loki's plan was. He wondered if Loki would get hurt. He wanted to send lighting at him to help his brother, but who knew what forces there were in the ice and Aether mixture. A single bolt could fry both Malekith and his brother into tiny pieces that they would never be able to put back together. Still, hopefully Loki would make sure that Malekith couldn't fulfill his plan. Loki jumped the last few feet and put his hands on Malekith. Thor watched as Malekith started turning blue and Malekith's eyes widened in horror as the blue quickly advanced up to his face and then moment later he was frozen. Loki grinned and then promptly passed out._

_~o~_

_It had taken a few days and several healing stones to heal his brother. Apparently the Aether had attacked him during the fight on a sub cellular level. If Loki hadn't taken over Malekith when he did, then he would have passed out, or worst died, and they would have lost._

_Thor had sent Loki straight home with the others and would have done everything to be with him, but he knew as king, and since Loki was out of commission, he had to stay on earth and deal with the Midgardians. This was why it had taken him several days, and several long meetings, with the Midgardians before he had been allowed to go home and check on his brother. He had known his brother was fine since Asgardians had been going to and from Asgard for the last few days, but he hadn't actually seen him with his eyes._

_Thor knocked on the door to Loki's quarters and moments later the door opened. Loki was sitting at his table with a book like he always was. He briefly glanced up to see who it was, then looked back at his book. Realizing that it was Thor, he then glanced up again and put down the book as he got to his feet with a grin. Thor growled at him, all the worry he had felt for his brother in the last few days resurfaced into anger._

_"You have no idea how much I've been worried about you!" Thor growled. Loki closed the door with his magic and continued grinning the way he sometimes did when he knew that it irritated Thor. This lasted only for a few moments however, before his smile dropped and he sighed._

_"I'm sorry. I wasn't aware that he was attacking me at first and-" honestly Thor could care less what Loki excuse was he grabbed him tightly in a hug._

_"For a few moments I was sure you were dead." Thor said softly._

_"I'm sorry." Loki said again. Thor pulled away after a few more moments and looked around Loki's room while he composed himself again. When he was finished he looked at Loki once more._

_"So what have you been doing these last few days?" Loki asked curiously, although his heart twinged with the tiniest bit of hurt that Thor barely saw._

_"I much rather have been here." Thor said wholeheartedly. He hated that he had to be away from his brother, especially at first when he hadn't known what was happening with Loki. However, to leave then without explaining would have created an incident._

_"What did you do?" Loki asked, sitting back down at the table and Thor joined him. Thor sighed._

_"We talked for hours and hours and hours. You would have done it easier and quicker." He said, then, remembering why Loki hadn't been there, he grimaced slightly._

_"You managed to go to a meeting and stay awake?" Loki asked, mocking surprise._

_"You're a bad influence on me." Thor said with a grin._

_"Okay, what did you talk about?" Loki asked._

_"Where Asgard is? Why we came? What our intentions are? Would we give them technology? Would we aid them if they were in trouble again? Were they really in trouble or was that lie? Could they have a casket? So many questions the only good thing that came about it was we found that they had the Tesseract." Loki's eyes narrowed._

_"Don't they know how dangerous it is if you don't have the proper precautions?" Loki said, then rolled his eyes. "Of course they don't know. They are a fairly smart race, but I forget that their technology is stupid."_

_"So do they still have it or...?" Loki trailed off._

_"We tried to convince them of how dangerous it was, but they wouldn't listen, saying that they needed it for planetary defense in case of something like the Aether ever happened again."_

_"Don't they know that the Tesseract is like a signal to the entire universe that they are ready for a higher form of battle, which they aren't?" Loki asked, and Thor nodded._

_"I told them as much."_

_"And?" Loki said, his eyebrows raised._

_"We promised our aid if any aliens attacked." Thor said._

_"As is our duty as protectors of the nine realms." Loki said with a nod, still waiting for the answer._

_"It was a tense negotiation, but in the end they gave it up." Loki grinned with pride and Thor was aware that his checks were turning pink._

_"What did you promise them?" Loki asked curiously._

_"Over 100 healing stones," Loki nodded with a thoughtful look on his face._

_"And our relationship with earth? How is it? What's it going to be like?"_

_"Well we have to find an ambassador to earth." Thor said. "You would actually be best for the job. But I think the person who would have to be ambassador would have to be there more often than we can afford to miss you. But whoever it is, you should help them out. As of this moment you know the most about earth. Although I did spend a few days there and met quite a few people."_

_"And our relationship?" Loki asked; he seemed to be fishing for something, but what it was, Thor had no idea. This was not a new thing._

_"We help earth with any extraterrestrial threats and we share information about said threats and any other things should we decide to."_

_"So we are on friendly terms?" Loki asked. Thor nodded, Earth didn't completely trust them, but they were smart enough to pretend that they did and they had established a relationship. Loki looked disappointed after Thor's nod, which confused Thor since he had thought that Loki would be happy about it._

_"Does this mean I have to stop my pranks?" Loki asked with distaste. Thor grinned as he did whenever Loki mentioned his pranks, since they were not exactly pranks. However, he didn't correct Loki. Loki needed something that wasn't just straight forward and that others were irritated about. He had decided reluctantly when Thor had made him his co-ruler that pranks from a king were probably not alright. and would reflect badly on the both of them._

_He had turned his attention to Midgard. In fact, he had spent a week on Midgard playing tricks on people, but harmless ones, like hiding people's car keys and making people think that they had seen double. Being Loki, he had quickly grown tired of that and had wanted to try something bigger. However, due to their pact as kings to protect the nine realms he couldn't do anything remotely dangerous: which in the past had been Loki's favorite kind of pranks._

_Not long after Loki had made his way back to Asgard he had decided to make it rain a candy that he had liked on the entire population of the earth; a candy that was called Dots. That prank had only lasted about seven seconds until Loki had realized that the drop and weight of the candy actually made them dangerous. Loki tried again using cotton candy not long after that. That had apparently worked much better. Loki had loved all the 'scientists' as he called them on Earth, trying to figure out how he had done it, or who, or what and for what reason it had been done. Every day for a month Loki had told him the various theories that the scientists had come up with to explain it. Thor had only cared that his brother was happy. That and the fact that his brother had given him a taste of the cotton candy and continued to give him some periodically; it was quite the tasty treat._

_Loki had gotten even more interested in Earth after that, going on their 'webs' and 'nets'. Thor didn't understand what those terms meant, but he knew that Loki was always eager to find out about anyone's theory on what he had done._

_Some time ago, Loki found something out, although Thor wasn't sure how 'webs' or 'nets' gave you any knowledge, yet Loki had found out that many Midgardians didn't have enough food. Since Loki had always thought that Asgardians ate too much food, he had wanted to do something about it. So Loki had made it rain food. He had modified it a bit, changing its velocity and some other science stuff that Thor wasn't clear on, all Thor knew that Loki had made it rain food over places that didn't have enough._

_Loki had been fascinated, but probably would have eventually have gotten bored even if Loki would never of admitted it, except that people started to steal food from those he was giving it to. Thor grinned as he remembered how much fun Loki had had in making sure that no one could steal it. He at first made the food turn to dust if touched by anyone outside of the areas' blood lines. Then, when Loki found he didn't like that, he had made the food phase out of the plane of existence if the wrong person touched it, but if the right person did it, it was in the right plane. Loki enjoyed complicated experiments and loved the anger of those who wished to thwart him. Not to mention the confusion of all of those who were still trying to figure out who was doing all the acts of kindness, which Loki called pranks._

_"I think even if they found out it was you they would be okay with it." Thor said with a grin._

_"So you didn't tell them?" Loki asked with a mischievous smile._

_"I think you equated it to reading the ending of a book. Why spoil the surprise?" Loki grinned._

Thor blinked as he came back into the moment. Things were so different. Loki and Thor were both so different, so much better. His mind quickly recapped everything that had happened after that. Thankfully at that point everyone had already known about his heritage or else that could have had quite the backlash. In fact that act had opened had gotten Loki more fans in Asgard.

Father was alive too, although probably not for very long, he thought sadly. Father was old and his time was sure to come to a close soon. It was good that Thor and Loki were there to rule in his stead. The two of them would surely make a better ruler than Thor by himself. Honestly, there was a part of him that thought the same could be said for Loki. Loki tended to over focus sometimes, and without Thor there to tell him to back off and get some rest, Loki would probably burn himself out in a matter of centuries, perhaps falling into madness again. He would do his best, like he had done his entire life this time around, to make sure he didn't lose his brother.

"Brother you are really starting to worry me." His brother said, his worry becoming clearer, even for those who did not know him as well. Thor grinned even though he still felt weak and still wasn't sure about everything that had happened so far, but there was one thing he did know. He had saved his brother and he was never going to lose him again.

"I'm great, Loki." he said fondly.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading this story. This is the end of this story please let me know how you liked it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading and please let me know if you liked it and comment.


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